by Heidi Swain
‘Anyway,’ said Hayley, ‘I better get on. I’m trying to track down something in particular for Dorothy.’
Once again she was swallowed up by the crowds and I looked about me, my eyes falling on a stall I hadn’t yet explored. Even though the jewels and trinkets clearly weren’t all genuine, the beautiful display, offset by a backdrop of voluptuous and voluminous purple velvet, glistened and sparkled with as much gusto and finesse as those on show in the Tower of London.
This was doubtless the stall that had reminded Catherine of her beloved but broken bracelet. I had almost scanned every piece when my eyes fell upon something which made me gasp out loud and scattered my thoughts to the four winds.
‘Unusual, that, isn’t it?’ commented the stallholder, who had registered my attention but not my surprise.
I nodded dumbly. My voice had died in my throat but thankfully my eyes produced no tears.
‘Take it out of the box if you want a closer look,’ he encouraged.
I had no desire to touch it but the guy was around the table before I could stop him, unfastening the little cameo from its velvet cushion and holding it up for me to take. I put down my bags and took it in my hands, which were less than steady.
It was certainly the same and I could hardly believe my eyes. I had wanted to see it again for so long that for a moment I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me and that my brain had conjured up some sort of hologram.
‘You all right, love?’ the man asked, finally tuning into my reaction. ‘You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.’
‘I’m all right,’ I nodded, my voice dragging itself up from the depths. ‘I’m just rather surprised to see this, that’s all.’
Lightly I ran my fingers over the once familiar chalky blue background and then over the pair of lovebirds and flowers that made up the simple but exquisite decoration.
‘It’s genuine,’ the stallholder continued now I had unfrozen a little. ‘Victorian. The setting is silver and the birds—’
‘And flowers,’ I finished for him, ‘are made from coral and pearl.’
‘That’s right,’ he grinned. ‘You’ve never seen one before, have you?’
‘Years ago,’ I said, unwilling to go into details. ‘Where did you find this?’
‘House clearance up the road a couple of weeks back.’
I nodded, relief flooding through my body. It wasn’t mine then.
The last time I had seen this brooch, or its twin, it hadn’t been sitting on my mother’s little dressing table in its usual allotted spot, but somewhere quite different. My most beloved possession had been the very last thing I looked at before I packed my bags and left home. I felt a lump forming in my throat as I wondered what my mum, and indeed Sarah, would have made of me leaving without it tucked away in my bag for safekeeping.
‘Hello, Anna,’ said Angus, who had been politely working his way around all the stalls during the course of the afternoon. ‘What have you got there?’
‘Just a brooch,’ I said, quickly putting it down and turning my back on it lest my emotional tug to spend the last of my cash, and a lot more besides according to the price tag, got the better of me.
‘It’s very beautiful,’ Angus said, peering over my shoulder.
‘And very expensive,’ I added, before remembering my manners and addressing the stallholder. ‘Thank you for showing it to me.’
‘Let me know if you change your mind about it,’ he said as he carefully reattached it to its display cushion. ‘And I’ll put it to one side for you.’
‘Thank you,’ I smiled, risking one last look, ‘but I won’t change my mind.’
‘You’ve been busy,’ said Angus, taking in my purchases as I gathered them up and moved away from the stall.
‘I have,’ I told him, ‘and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself.’ I didn’t explain about the shock of seeing the brooch again after so long. ‘I’ve got everything I need now, so I’m going to put this lot in my room and get back to Dorothy in the kitchen. She hasn’t let me do anything all afternoon.’
‘Well,’ said Angus, biting his lip, ‘by all means go and offload your shopping, but if Dorothy can still spare you I’ve got another favour to ask.’
‘All right,’ I reluctantly agreed, wondering what I was letting myself in for this time.
‘And bring a coat,’ Angus added as I headed for the kitchen, ‘and some gloves.’
When I opened my bedroom door I discovered the envelope containing my photocopied references had been pushed back underneath. I picked them up and dropped them on the bed. It didn’t look to me as if they had even been opened. However, I refused to let my mind backtrack over the awkward conversation Jamie and I had had earlier and went off in search of Angus once again.
‘So,’ I said when I finally found him tucking into one of the warm mince pies Jemma from the Cherry Tree was selling, ‘what exactly is it you want me to do?’
‘Oh, now,’ he grinned, wolfing down the last mouthful and brushing his hands together. ‘Come outside and I’ll show you.’
The last favour I had undertaken for my much loved employer had been both simple and safe, but looking at the ponies, which appeared far more frisky now they were attached to the sleigh, I wasn’t quite so convinced that I could say the same this time around.
‘They’re quite placid,’ he said, taking my hand and leading me towards the sleigh seat. ‘They’re just keen to get on.’
‘You mean you want me to climb in?’ I asked, pulling away slightly as a crowd began to gather.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I want to take people around the grounds but no one will give it a go until they’ve seen someone else take the first trip.’
I could hardly blame them. The contraption had built up quite a speed on the night of the switch-on and that was without acres of open ground to tempt the ponies into a canter.
‘Oh Angus,’ I said, ‘I’m not sure.’
‘I’ll come with you, if you like,’ said Jamie, who had wandered up with a blanket tucked under his arm. ‘I daresay it will be very romantic once the thing gets into its stride.’
It was the getting into ‘its stride’ that I was worried about, but I was relieved to hear he sounded far more like his usual self now than compared to when he had been giving me a grilling about my references, even if romance wasn’t supposed to be on the cards.
‘How did you find my credentials?’ I couldn’t resist asking.
‘Can we not talk about that now?’ he pleaded.
I shrugged off his seductive gaze and turned my attention back to the red sleigh and tinkling bells. Was it my imagination or had the sound of them just got louder? If this was Mum’s way of telling me to climb inside I wasn’t sure I was keen to acquiesce with this particular suggestion.
‘Oh, Angus, are you giving sleigh rides?’
In pristine cashmere and with her hair cascading over her shoulders Elise appeared in the doorway.
‘I am.’
‘Then count me in,’ she shocked me by saying. ‘What fun. Do you fancy it, Jamie?’
He looked from her to me as if unsure what to do.
‘Sorry, Elise,’ I said, climbing aboard and pulling Jamie in with me. ‘We’re going first.’
Before I had a chance to change my mind and jump out, Angus had hopped into the driving seat and we were off.
‘Here,’ said Jamie, unfolding the blanket as the group of bystanders clapped and cheered and we lunged forwards, ‘wrap this around your legs.’
After a jerky start and some candid advice from Mick, the sleigh began to move off and Elise marched back into the hall. Jamie looked at me and grinned.
‘What?’ I snapped.
‘Nothing,’ he said, pulling me closer.
I let him. As long as he didn’t start quizzing me again, or mention the fact that he knew I had been filled with jealousy as I imagined him sleighing through the winter landscape with Elise cosied up to his side, then I was happy to stay where I was and enjoy the
ride.
‘You two all right back there?’ Angus called over his shoulder.
‘Yes,’ Jamie called back. ‘You just watch where you’re going.’
The trip around the perimeter of the gardens and woods was over all too soon and Jamie leant forward to ask his father if he could take us around again. There was quite a queue forming outside the hall door and I knew there would be no rest for the ponies now until it was dark.
‘I bet,’ said Jamie into my ear, ‘that the day you turned up here, determined to work your way through yet another Christmas, you never dreamt that you’d be shopping for presents, making mince pies, taking sleigh rides and planning a whole new future, did you?’
‘No,’ I said, stealing a look up at him. ‘I really didn’t.’
He kissed the top of my head and I couldn’t resist snuggling closer to his side.
‘And I bet you didn’t think you’d be looking forward to your own future quite so much either, did you?’
‘God no,’ he laughed, the sound resonating through his chest. ‘I really can’t thank you enough for all you’ve taken on here, Anna.’
‘I haven’t said I’ll take anything on yet,’ I reminded him, ‘and I still want to know what all the fuss was earlier about my references.’
‘I’m sorry about that,’ he said dismissively. ‘I made a mistake.’
‘What sort of mistake?’ I asked, pulling away a little. ‘Did you suddenly think I was some sort of fraudster trying to wheedle my way into a rich family’s affections?’
I was only teasing him, but the look on his face suggested there might have been some truth behind my silly suggestion.
‘Did you?’ I said again, seriously this time.
‘Of course not,’ he said, tugging the blanket free from my legs. ‘Come on, time to get off. Looks like you’re going to have a busy couple of hours now, Dad.’
‘Thanks to you two,’ said Angus with a wink, ‘I think we’re going to be busier here at the hall for a lot longer than that!’
Chapter 30
As much as I would have liked to, I didn’t have a chance to pin Jamie down and demand an explanation as to what the ‘mistake’ was that he had made because there was so much else going on we didn’t end up having another single second on our own.
The entire Christmas Fair had gone down as a roaring success and the organisers had asked if Catherine and Angus would consider holding another one the following year. Not necessarily the Christmas Fair, as that would hopefully be returning to its traditional location at the town hall in Wynbridge, but another, possibly in the summer when people could bring picnics and enjoy the gardens.
Catherine handed the idea over to Jamie, who would be in charge by then, and notes were made in the diary, with the potential addition of some entertainment in the gardens during the evening. Angus was already talking about swapping the sleigh for a little trap so he could carry on giving the trips, which had gone down a storm, and I knew he had been Googling new stable block options for one of the fields so he could indulge Mick and keep a couple of ponies after the original block was converted for the charity.
I couldn’t have been more thrilled that life at Wynthorpe was picking up pace and I had almost made a final decision as to whether or not I was going to be moving in to enjoy it when my contract came to an end.
‘Happy birthday, darling girl!’ chorused Catherine and Angus when I went down to breakfast on the morning of the Solstice celebration.
‘We’ve made you a cake!’ clapped Oscar, jumping up and down in excitement while Hugo pulled out a chair for me to sit on.
I hadn’t had a chance to get worked up about my looming birthday. What with clearing up from the Fair and preparations for the ceremony in the woods, it had kind of fallen by the wayside on my list of priorities, but there was nothing unusual about that. I never gave it a second thought, as a rule. As far as I had been concerned it was just another day on the calendar, but as with most things in the Connelly household, birthdays were clearly a big deal and something to be cheered about.
‘And there are cards,’ Oscar gushed.
‘And presents,’ said Cass as she scooped up her son and gave him a kiss.
‘My goodness,’ I blushed, looking at the laden table. ‘I can’t remember the last time I was made such a fuss of!’
‘Don’t you normally have a cake?’ asked Hugo, as he watched his mother and Oscar counting out the candles.
‘I don’t usually have anything,’ I told him truthfully.
The look he gave me suggested he didn’t believe a word, but Cass frowned and shook her head.
‘I don’t like the sound of that at all,’ she said. ‘From what I’ve heard, Anna, you work far too hard.’
‘But not today,’ said Jamie, who had crept up behind me. ‘There’ll be no work for you today at all, Anna.’
‘Is that right?’ I laughed.
‘It is,’ he said, sitting next to me. ‘Today I am going to be your personal slave. Whatever you wish will be my command.’
‘Lucky Anna,’ said Elise coquettishly as she and Archie came in and joined everyone around the table.
Archie looked at me and rolled his eyes. He hadn’t said as much but I knew he had taken on board the not particularly subtle shifting of his girlfriend’s allegiance. I was in absolutely no doubt that Elise was setting her sights on the only Connelly brother left who could fulfil her lofty ambitions to take up the role of lady of the manor, and the horrible thing was that Jamie appeared to be indulging her. Not encouraging her stupidity exactly, but not nipping it in the bud either. I was fairly certain she was barking up the wrong tree, given the way he said he felt about me, but her behaviour was disconcerting to say the least.
‘Yes,’ I said, blocking her out and keeping my eyes firmly on Jamie. ‘Lucky me indeed.’
Hayley’s timely arrival with Mick thankfully broke the simmering tension and she rushed in to plant a sloppy kiss on my cheek and thrust a card and present into my hands.
‘We haven’t done cards and presents yet,’ said Dorothy.
‘We haven’t even done the cake,’ said Oscar, waving the candles about and sounding frustrated at the slow progress we were making.
‘Well come on then,’ said Hayley, rushing to the pantry. ‘Let’s crack on.’
Jamie made a great fuss of standing behind me and covering my eyes with his hands while the cake was prepared and the cards and presents were arranged around it. I have to admit it felt rather nice being the centre of attention for once and being made such a fuss of. Ordinarily I was the one in charge of making sure life ran smoothly and events were a success for everyone else.
‘Happy birthday to you,’ everyone began to sing, and finally I was allowed to peek.
Molly had arrived during my temporary blindfold and she waved and smiled from the spot at Archie’s side which she had hastily filled. I couldn’t help but wonder if Elise had picked up on the chemistry between the two, but my thoughts were distracted by the gargantuan chocolate cake in front of me. The outside was decorated by a fence of chocolate-covered fingers and the top was full of Maltesers, with at least a dozen pretty red polka dot candles wedged in between. It was quite simply breathtaking and I smiled at Dorothy to show my gratitude for her efforts.
‘Everyone helped,’ she told me, ‘everyone managed to do something.’
That made me feel even more grateful because I knew it wasn’t always easy for her to give up her kitchen and let other people get stuck in.
When the moment finally came I didn’t have a clue what to wish for. My life seemed suddenly to be filled with practically everything I could ever want, including my own personal manservant for the day, and so I gave the wish away and blew out the candles in one big puff.
‘Hip hip hooray!’ shouted Christopher as he popped the cork on a champagne bottle and everyone else joined in, ‘Hip hip hooray!’
It took some time to kiss everyone and thank them and I don’t think anyone notic
ed how long Jamie tried to keep me in the shadows making sure he received his own lingering thank you while Dorothy distributed cake and bubbles for breakfast.
‘What did you wish for?’ asked Oscar, who surreptitiously made his way onto my lap and helped me open the cards when I sat back down. I was saving the presents for later.
‘I can’t tell you that,’ I said, jiggling him on my knee and making him giggle. ‘It’s a secret.’
‘I bet I know,’ he laughed, through another sticky mouthful of the delectable chocolate and cherry cream-filled sponge cake which had been hidden by the decorations.
‘Oh, do you now?’ I said, just about resisting the urge to tickle him.
‘Uh-huh,’ he gurgled. ‘I bet you want what I heard Elise saying you’d got your heart set on.’
‘And what was that?’ I asked, stopping the jiggling as I looked around to check no one else was listening.
‘I heard her on the phone,’ he said, lowering his voice an octave or two because he knew he shouldn’t have been eavesdropping.
‘And what did she say?’
‘She said you wanted to stay here and play Princesses.’
‘Did she now?’ I frowned, not quite sure Oscar had heard correctly.
‘Well, something like that anyway,’ he said, before taking another large bite. ‘At least she said you thought you already were a princess or something like that.’
I let him slip from my knee and looked across the kitchen to where the wicked witch of the fairy tale herself had managed to corner my potential handsome prince yet again. Fingers crossed she was going to take a bite of her own poisoned apple before long, but just in case, I was going to be on hand myself if it became necessary to stop her forcing it down Jamie’s throat instead.
The morning passed quickly, and shortly after lunch more guests arrived to take part in the Solstice celebration. This crowd was very different from the one at the Fair and I was introduced to so many people I knew I wouldn’t have a chance of remembering all their names, even though I was usually pretty skilled at that sort of thing.
There was one old lady called Annie, with periwinkle eyes, who stood out from the crowd however, and she was accompanied by a curly-haired lad called Ed, who carried what I thought looked like a tame jackdaw on his arm. They were an unusual bunch of people to say the least, preparing to walk through the woods in search of Yule logs while carrying lanterns to light the way back later that evening. Molly, wearing a shimmering cloak, reminded me of my first impression of her the day Mick and I had been collecting wood.
